Gardeners tend to wander around looking down most of the time. There is nothing wrong with that. Most of what we are interested in is in the ground so our eyes are mostly diverted down the way.

The other day I was wrestling with a big root I came across when loosening some soil for planting. After playing tug-o-war, the root won and I ended up flying through the air and landed on my back in the grass.

I lay there for a few seconds not knowing whether to laugh or cry and then I noticed the leaves on the big lime tree were just about fully open, but not quite. It was a lovely sunny day and the contrast of the lime green of the leaves against the sunny blue sky was quite stunning. Don’t worry I’m not going all Wordsworth on you. Cloudless, sunny blue skies are something of a rarity round here.

So I went and got the camera, had a wander round the garden and took some pictures of the things above that we forget are there.

Cherry blossom

Apple blossom

This gooseberry bush grows out of the top of the wall and we forget it is there until the fruit is ready to pick. From this one little bush we have had as much as 13lbs of gooseberry jam!